Basic is a great language for teaching programming. The BASIC programming language
was created at Dartmouth College as a vehicle for teaching programming
to beginners. But when I look at projects at the GitHub website, you
will see that Python is on the list of most popular languages, but Basic
is not: https://github.com/languages
Based on features, Python is a good first language. Its style of
coding is closer to that of Java than to C/C++, but it permits
procedural programming while Java is strictly object oriented. Python's
popularity together with its other strengths make it the best language
for beginners.
I had previously recommended Basic as the best first language for beginners. How can you go wrong with Basic? Only if Python provides more practical opportunities. Kirk McDonald, president of PubMatic, an ad tech company in Manhatten, wrote an Op-Ed piece in the Wall Street Journal, May 10, 2013, titled, "Sorry College Grads, I Probably Won't Hire You." I'll quote him: "...please learn a little computer programming." He also said, "Dabble in a bit of Python." So the president of a tech company recommends Python, not Basic. (You can google the title and read the article online.)
I had previously recommended Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner by Michael Dawson. I continue to recommend it for beginners. You can go to the publisher's website and download the version of Python that is compatible with Python modules called Livewires and Pygame, which come with the Python installer used by the book. You can also download the source code from the book. This book is an excellent resource for the beginning programmer.
Robert
Here is an article with more explanation of why people like Python:
http://www.mihneadb.net/post/python-the-best-first-programming-language/
Here is another article saying Python is the best language for beginning programmers:
"Python squeezes out JavaScript, C as best starter programming language", January 23, 2014
http://www.itworld.com/application-management/401419/python-squeezes-out-javascript-c-best-starter-programming-language
Surprisingly, the C programming language was 2nd on the survey. I last mentioned C a a beginning language on April 13, 2013:
http://canrightonsoftwareandprogramming.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-c-programming-language.html
Additional blog posts:
Python GUIs with PyGTK and Glade February 26, 2014
July 9, 2014
"At the time of writing (July 2014), Python is currently the most popular language for teaching introductory computer science courses at top-ranked U.S. departments.
Specifically, eight of the top 10 CS departments (80%), and 27 of the top 39 (69%), teach Python in introductory CS0 or CS1 courses." This quote is from the following blog:
http://cacm.acm.org/blogs/blog-cacm/176450-python-is-now-the-most-popular-introductory-teaching-language-at-top-us-universities/fulltext
